First, Hurricane Sandy’s going to skew every number that comes out for the next two months. When you look at quarterly numbers, it’ll likely be smoothed out at that point. But monthly numbers will be affected.

Something like the ISM Index clocking in at 49.5 – rather than the expected 51.4 – is just what this temporary dislocation will do.

On top of that, the uncertainty surrounding the election and the Fiscal Cliff has led to a delay in business investment. You can see that it’s fallen off the trend that’s been established since the recovery started.

I suspect this spending to surge again once the Fiscal Cliff has passed, adding a real boost to economic numbers and the market.

It’s easy to get caught up in the pessimism of the news, but this is a time when a proper contrarian view can identify a short term opportunity in the market.

Today was a perfect example…

The BLS released an encouraging job report, and real employment was probably even better thanks to these numbers being skewed by the hurricane. On the same day, consumer confidence fell sharply.

Right now, measures of sentiment are weak, but actual economics are strong. That’s when you buy.